And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
All Commentaries on John 12:32 Go To John 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all Things unto Me. "Exalted by my resurrection and ascension," says S. Chrysostom. But other commentators refer it to the Cross, as S. John himself explains it. "Christ," says Maldonatus, "speaks of Himself as a soldier contending with the devil. For as a soldier has an advantage over his enemy if he is on higher ground, so would Hebrews , from His Cross, as from a very high and well-defended post, fight against the devil and overcome him. And therefore He called this kind of death an exaltation. When exalted He drew all to Himself, as an eagle carries his prey aloft with him."
In like manner Mark , the Bishop of Arethusa in Syria, when lifted up on high, and besmeared with honey to attract the bees, laughed at his torturers, and said that they were grovelling on the earth, while he was lifted up above them. (See Theodoret, Hist. iii7 , Soz. v10.) But Christ alludes to the lifting up of the brazen serpent (see chap. iii14), and thus teaches us that the Cross is not to be dreaded, but desired, for it alone exalts.
A1l things. (1) "Soul and body," say S. Augustine and Bede. (2) But Rupertus says: "Heaven and earth, men, angels, and devils. Because I will cause "every knee to bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth"" ( Philippians 2:10). (3) All men who will believe in Me, all nations of men. The Greek Fathers read πάντας. But Cornelius prefers the Vulgate "omnia" as more expressive, signifying all the choicest things of the world, all the spoils of the devil. The Arabic version has "each one," the Syriac "all."
Draw. Will withdraw from the devil against his will, and not against their own will. For I will sweetly allure, and effectually draw them to Myself, and make them My brethren; nay more, My children, that as I am the Son of God by nature, so they may be the sons of God by adoption. The Greek word ÎλκÏσω means, I will draw them by force, snatch them out of the power of the devil against his will, and strengthen men, moreover, to withstand their several temptations. See Matthew 11:12.
Hear S. Leontius (Serm. viii. de Pass.), treating this whole passage with grace and tenderness. "0 wondrous power of the Cross! 0 ineffable glory of the Passion, wherein is seen the tribunal of Christ, the judgment of the world and the power of the Crucified! For Thou didst draw, 0 Lord, all things unto Thee. And when Thou didst stretch forth Thine hands all the day to a disobedient and gainsaying people, the whole world felt the force of Thine acknowledged Majesty. Thou didst draw all things to thyself, 0 Lord, when in execration of the sin of the Jews all the elements pronounced one and the same sentence, when the luminaries of heaven were obscured, and night was turned into day, the earth also was shaken with unwonted quakings, and the whole creation refused its aid to the service of the wicked." He afterwards follows up the subject, and urges it still more forcibly. "Thou hast drawn all things to Thee, 0 Lord. When the veil of the temple was rent, and the holy of holies withdrawn from the unworthy priesthood, in order that the figure might be changed into Truth, prophecy into manifestation, and the Law into the Gospel. Thou didst draw all things to Thee, in order that that which was kept hid in the Jewish temple, by shadows and outward signs, the devotion of all nations might everywhere set forth in its full sacramental force before the eyes of all. For now there is a more illustrious order of Levites, a higher dignity of elders, and a more sacred unction of priests. Because thy Cross is the Fount of all blessings, the Source of all graces, and by it believers obtain strength out of weakness, glory out of shame, and life out of death."
Moreover, Christ, when exalted on the Cross, between heaven and earth, drew all things to Himself. (1) Because He reconciled heaven and earth, Angels to the Gentiles, Gentiles to Jews, and God to men. For He is our peace, &c, Ephesians 2:14. (2) Because He drew all nations of the world to the faith and love of Himself. He drew them from the earth to the Cross; to penitence, that Isaiah , to continual mortification and martyrdom; and from the Cross to heaven. He drew them by the merits and price of His Blood; by His example, and by His Blood. For if Christ, of His own accord, died for us on the Cross, who would not love Him in return? Who would not say with S. Ignatius among the lions, "My love is crucified?" See Zechariah 13:6 on the words, "I was wounded in the house of my friends." (3) Christ on the Cross drew all things to Himself, i.e. the Creator and His creatures. For God by this sacrifice was propitiated towards men, the sun and the heavens were astonished, and as though bewailing the death of their Creator, withdrew their rays from the earth, the air was involved in the thickest darkness, the whole earth, convulsed and shaken, trembled from its very centre; the rocks were rent, and the graves were opened, that both the dead as well as the living might bewail the death of Christ. All creatures therefore looked up towards Christ crucified, as if in amazement, and as offering themselves to fight in His behalf against His murderers and to scatter them abroad.
The Origenists wrongly inferred from this passage, that Christ brought the lost out of hell, and saved them. But as S. Gregory explains (Epist. lib. vi15), Christ drew all, that Isaiah , the elect. "For a man cannot be drawn to God after death who has separated himself from God by his evil life."
Symbolically. S. Bernard (Serm. xxi. in Cant.) applies Christ"s words to himself, and all "Religious." For they, by contempt of earthly and love of heavenly things, are lifted up from the earth, and therefore draw all things to them. For all things, whether adverse or prosperous, work together for their good: and they themselves possess a source of wealth by trampling it as it were under foot. "For to a faithful man the whole word is full of riches."
